Why Northern Virginia Families Switch Cleaning Services

Many people who call us already have a cleaning service. And they’re not usually calling because the cleaning itself was really bad. They’re calling because something around the cleaning stopped working for them: maybe it was discomfort with the cleaning crew, or a price that kept moving around, or a message that nobody responded to.

Here are the five reasons we hear most often, what to ask before you make a change, and what switching involves.

1. I wasn’t confident in the crew

This is a point that comes up quite often. We hear things like “I just didn’t think the people coming even worked for the company I hired” or “some didn’t have uniforms and just didn’t seem experienced.” At WellNest Professional Cleaning, every person who cleans your home is a W-2 employee – not a gig worker or a contractor or a freelancer. And our hiring process is thorough – before we hire anyone they go through a phone screen, a live interview, a criminal background check and E-Verify. And then they do a full day of supervised cleaning, and we have ongoing training as well.

2. The price kept moving

If you’re quoted by the hour, you really don’t know what a cleaning costs until it’s finished. A visit that runs long, for whatever reason, costs you more, and there’s no way to plan around it.

We charge a flat rate per visit. The price you see when you book is the price you pay, and it doesn’t move because we stayed longer than expected.

It’s also worth checking what add-ons cost, and whether they’re published anywhere or quoted case by case. Ours are on the pricing page with the recurring rates.

3. Nobody answered

A cleaning company is a service business, and a service business that’s hard to reach isn’t doing a great job. If your garage code changes, or a family member is recovering from surgery and needs the downstairs left alone, or you need to move a visit by a day, you can reach out to our office and a human being will answer the phone. You’ll always have an English-speaking point of contact here, and you can call or text during a cleaning if you need to. You can also manage your schedule and leave notes for your team through your online account.

4. The schedule slipped

Late arrivals are all too common, and they usually have a cause worth understanding.

Companies that take one-time jobs alongside recurring ones are much more likely to run late. A one-time clean is hard to estimate reliably until the crew is standing in the house, and when a three-hour job turns into six, everyone scheduled after it has to wait. This is the primary reason we don’t take one-time work. We give up some revenue, but in exchange we can show up in the window we promised for our regular customers, and providing that high level of service is very important to us.

Any company will have a bad day. What you’re looking for is whether late is the exception or the pattern, and whether they tell you when it happens.

5. Nobody was accountable when something broke

Things do get damaged occasionally. A picture frame, a glass tumbler, a finish that reacted badly to a product. What matters is how it’s handled.

Two questions sort this out quickly. Is the person in your home an employee of the company, or an independent contractor? And is that person bonded and insured by the company, with documentation available if you ask?

At WellNest every crew member is a W-2 employee, bonded and insured by us, so one accountable company stands behind every person who comes through your door. If something is damaged, tell us within 24 hours and we’ll make it right. Separately, if a cleaning wasn’t up to standard, tell us within 24 hours and we’ll come back and re-clean what was missed at no charge.

What to ask before you switch

These are some questions worth asking any company you’re considering, including us:

• Are your cleaners employees or independent contractors?

• Are they background-checked, and what does the check cover?

• Is the price flat or hourly, and what do add-ons cost?

• What happens if I’m not happy with a cleaning?

• Is there a contract, and how do I pause or cancel?

• How do I reach a person, and how quickly do you answer?

You should expect clear answers to all of these questions.

What switching involves

Switching to WellNest is simple.

You get a price online in about a minute, choose a frequency, set up how we get in, and pick a start date. The first cleaning of a home that’s been maintained by someone else is usually straightforward, because the house isn’t starting from a backlog.

If you’d rather change cadence later, you can. Weekly, every two weeks and monthly are all available, and moving between them doesn’t cost anything.

What our customers told us

A while back Phil asked customers directly why they’d come to us, and wrote up what they said in 4 Reasons Why Your Neighbors Are Hiring Us. The answers are in their words rather than ours, and the reasons haven’t changed: a consistent high level of service, reliable crews, and a responsive office.

Get your price

You can get a price online in under a minute. Enter your ZIP code, bedrooms, bathrooms and how often you’d like us to clean, and the number comes right back. If it turns out we’re not the right fit, no one will chase you about it.